Day 2: 2:00 AM - 3:00 AM

Characters Introduced:

• Raymond O’Hara (Brian Goodman): The lead thug tracking the recording.
• Ronnie Stark (Peter Outerbridge): Jack’s very professional torturer.
• Peter Kingsley (Tobin Bell): The first ever rich shady white guy who is behind everything. This became a 24 staple.
• Marcus (Nick Offerman): Lead redneck. Now awesomely mustached on Parks & Rec.

Returning Characters:

Sonuvabitch

Key Moments:

• Yusuf discovers a tracking device connected to the chip dug out of Wallace’s body.
• When Jack spots the thugs tracking them, he gives the chip to Yusuf and Kate and tells them to meet him at some location. Jack then takes the tracking device and runs.
• Tony updates the President on what Jack is up to. David uses this information to call off the imminent bombing of unnamed nations. Mike vehemently argues against this decision but David Palmer is not to be denied. This was one of Jude’s best scenes.
• Jack is seen running through the parking lot and tasered to the ground before escaping.
• Lynne talks with Mike about a secret meeting setup by Prescott. I hear ominous music.
• A very naked Jack wakes through the joys of vomiting. Kingsley’s men are torturing Jack for information on the recording. After Jack turns down any deal, Ronnie gets down to some cutting.
• Mike tells Lynne about a source he is in contact with about Prescott’s secret meeting. Lynne wants in on their next conversation.
• The torture of Jack continues with burning instead of cutting.
• Mike Novick sucks.
• Jack’s torture continues with smelling salts to wake him up every time he passes out. Eventually Jack doesn’t wake up and the hour ends with Jack flatlined.

Ridiculousness:

• Since CTU is a horrible work environment, we find out that Carrie broke up Michelle’s brother’s marriage. At the same time Michelle tells this to Tony, the brother shows up and eventually attacks Carrie. Thank you for that 24.
• Her is one of my most hated scenes in 24 history. Lynne and Mike sit around waiting for his “source”. Mike asks Lynne about the law that allows Prescott to gain the Presidency if the majority of the cabinet votes against Palmer. Mike asks Lynne if she supports Palmer or Prescott. When Lynne sides with Palmer, Mike locks her in the closet with a guard. FUCK YOU MIKE NOVICK! FUCK YOU 24 FOR THIS HEEL TURN! But I do like the idea that this is how the highest level of our government acts.
• Yusuf gets beat up by LA rednecks. This was just an awful storyline.

Running Totals:

Jack’s Body Counts: 1 (31)

• In his attempt to escape, Jack kills 1 henchman.

Torture Doesn’t Mean You Can’t be Creative: 1 (7)

• Jack goes through some shit, mostly cutting, burning, and shocking.

Day 2: 1:00 AM - 2:00 AM

Characters Introduced:

• Dr. Spire (Peter Gregory): The poor clinic doctor who just wants to treat drug addicts and STD having teens but Jack Bauer walked through his door.

Returning Characters:

Damnit

Key Moments:

• Jack, Yusuf, and Wallace are surrounded in the alley and engage in a shootout until Kate, Jack, and Wallace escape back into the building. Yusuf stays in the alley to get back to Jack’s SUV and gear up. When ambushers get reinforcements, Wallace allows Jack to call Michelle for help.
• Americans are rioting over the bomb and Palmer will have none of that shit.
• Michelle looks at satellite images, while Carrie looks at Michelle looking at satellite images. Carrie is too dumb to figure it out, obviously since we’ve never seen her do any actual work, so Tony takes over. Michelle uses Jamey’s secret bathroom stall of illicit phone calls to send the data to Jack. Tony confronts her outside the bathroom and we don’t care.
• David sends the National Guard after some redneck rioters in Georgia.
• Using Michelle’s satellite images, Yusuf throws some smoke grenades and brings the SUV up to the escaping Jack, Wallace, and Kate. Wallace is nailed in the neck while they were speeding off.
• Although Kate was arrested at the liquor store, she was brought back to the station to be told that she is not under arrest.
• With Wallace bleeding to death and still not willing to tell Jack where the evidence is located, Jack has Yusuf head to the closest clinic.
• The National Guard kills 2 rioters with their rubber bullets. Nice shooting Tex. Palmer is saddened and yeah this was a total diversion to keep David busy for an hour.
• In the middle of being operated on, Wallace calls it off because he knows he is about to die. He starts telling Jack where to find the evidence but dies before finishing his sentence.
• A despondent Jack stares into the distance when he is distracted by Wallace’s x-rays. There is a piece of metal connected to his ribcage and Jack digs it out of the dead man.

Ridiculousness:

• Although Kim was arrested at the liquor store, she was brought back to the station to be told that she is not under arrest. Is that proper policing?
• Remember Miguel? Yeah, he lost a leg in the whole lighting the police car on fire trick.

Running Totals:

Jack’s Body Count: 7 (26)

• The first alleyway shootout gives Jack 3 kills.
• The second alleyway shootout gives Jack 4 more kills.

Jack and Tony are Friends?: 1 (6)

• Tony calls Jack after he left all those bodies in the alley. They proceed to yelling at each other for a couple of minutes.

Jack the Butcher: 1 (4)

• Jack takes a scalpel to gain access to Wallace’s ribcage then uses his fingers to dig out the recording.

Day 2: 12:00 AM - 1:00 AM

Characters Introduced:

• Jim Prescott (Alan Dale): David’s Vice-President and also Charles Widmore. This means you automatically don’t trust him.

Returning Characters:

I thought this section would get more use...

Key Moments:

• David arrives in LA and talks to Prescott about the British. Prescott wants to inform their allies of their military action, but Palmer wants to hold off as long as possible so they can stop the bombings if the facts change.
• Jack and Kate drive to Wallace’s meeting point. Kate, at least, has the common sense to make Jack explain himself before agreeing to his madness. Jack asks her to trust him. Jack notices they are being tailed and pulls a trick and confronts Yusuf. Yusuf offers to help.
• Jack arrives at the alley where he is meeting Wallace; he leaves Kate in the SUV and goes in alone. Wallace admits he was paid to make sure the bomb went off and to plant the recording. He claims this is all because of shady oilmen who want a war in the Middle East. During this conversation, Wallace signals his man to pick up Kate but Yusuf gets the drop on him. Wallace says this changes nothing and he will exchange the source recordings for Kate since she can get a chartered flight out of the United States. Jack initially says no but changes his mind when Wallace gets up to leave.
• In order to make Carrie’s day, Tony has her monitor what Michelle is doing. That makes what Carrie has been doing since walking into CTU official now.
• Yusuf brings Kate to the meeting place. Once there, Wallace moves to take her with him and Jack tells her to do it. Kate is hurt because she forgot the cardinal rule to just trust Jack.
• Wallace puts Kate in the truck, Yusuf tells Jack the tracker is in place, but before Wallace can drive off the alleyway is ambushed.

Ridiculousness:

• There is a meeting of Mike and Lynne where Mike asks Lynne how to get in touch with Jack. He wants to know what is distracting the President. But all Lynne gives him is the number to CTU … Mike Novick doesn’t know how to contact CTU?
• Michelle has a crazy brother that decides to call CTU in the middle of the night and distract Michelle.

Running Totals:

Cliche free

Day 2: 11:00 PM - 12:00 AM

Characters Introduced:

• Jonathan Wallace (Gregg Henry): The coral snake leader and the man who can prove the recording was false. Gregg is always great in these thug roles.

Returning Characters:

Why have you forsaken me?

Key Moments:

• Michelle questions Ali about the Cypress recording. Ali denies being in Cypress when it was recorded and says the bomb was Second Wave’s alone.
• Tony reports to Palmer what they found on the recording and David proceeds to meet with the Joint Chiefs of Staff about retaliation. The plan is for a rolling start to occur within hours to catch unnamed countries by surprise.
• Jack arrives back at CTU and is all set to leave to track down Kim when Michelle tells him about what Ali said.
• Jack catches Ali before he is put on the transport to Guantanamo. First he tells him that his son is not dead then asks him about the Cypress recording. Ali reiterates what he told Michelle. While Jack and Ali think on what this means, a sniper puts a bullet through Ali’s brain.
• While David is getting casualty projections for the planned invasions, Jack calls to inform him of Ali’s assassination and his belief that the recording was faked. Palmer tells him that he needs proof in order to stop any military action.
• David and Mike discuss Jack’s new information. David feels that they are moving too fast into a military response, while Mike believes David needs to be more decisive. This was great work by Haysbert and Ciccolella.
• Michelle informs Jack about Yusuf but when Jack questions him Yusuf won’t help because he is being kept in the dark. Jack then receives a phone call from the remaining coral snake solder, Jonathan Wallace, claiming he will provide proof the recording is false in exchange for Kate Warner.
• Michelle distracts Baker during his debrief of Kate. Jack swoops in and takes Kate and tries to get out of CTU with her. Since Carrie doesn’t work and just spies on everyone else, she immediately tells Tony. Tony pulls a gun on Jack! Jack doesn’t fall for his bluff and takes the gun and nails Tony causing him to fall and break his ankle. Jack and Kate make a break for it.

Ridiculousness:

• We get the first instance of the entire government not wanting 1 agent to pursue the Cypress recording. Seriously? There are 1000s of agents and analysts; can’t a couple look into this while the rest plan a war?
• Kim needs to be distracted for a few hours so she goes and hangs out at a liquor store that will immediately be robbed.

Running Totals:

Jack and Tony are Friends?: 2 (5)

• All Jack wants to do is pursue the Cypress recording lead but all Tony wants is Jack out of his face.
• Tony pulls a gun on Jack and Jack responds by punching him in the face.

Kim Does Something Stupid: 1 (19)

• Kim pulls her gun to attempt to break up the liquor store robbery. The problem with pulling a gun is if you aren’t going to use it; the other guy will just take it from you and use it.

Day 2: 10:00 PM - 11:00 PM

Characters Introduced:

• Yusuf Auda (Donnie Keshawarz): One of those characters who are introduced as shady but proved otherwise. He also gets to be another wingman for Jack … guess what happens to him?

Returning Characters:

Damn you bring someone back!

Key Moments:

• Walking zombie George Mason shows up at the airfield to kill time before he dies.
• The techs cannot disarm the bomb and they have less than an hour before detonation. Jack sends for the fastest plane on site and calls Palmer.
• Lynne and Mike break down the 2 possible bombsites, the ocean or the desert. The ocean would be an ecological disaster while a precise desert bombing would only kill any hippies camping in the desert. Who cares about those guys? Palmer tells Jack to go with the desert.
• Jack will fly the plane because it is a suicide mission and he will not order any other man to die. Mason lobbies for the job but Jack is ruthless and says he can’t risk George dying before the bomb gets to the desert.
• Ali’s safehouse in unnamed country was raided with the help of Yusuf. The stuff is brought to CTU for analysis and within minutes a recording is found. Tony sidelines Yusuf because he does not trust him.
• There is a point where Kate finds out that Jack is flying to his death. I highlight this because I love the 24 moments where a character finds out that Jack Bauer is better than them in every conceivable fashion.
• Kim finally gets a ride from a nice lady driving down the deserted street; she then proceeds to call CTU, get connected to Jack, and have one of the saddest conversations so far in the show. Jack tells her what he is doing and tells her how proud he is of her. Kim is a bawling mess in front of the nice lady.
• Tony being awesome was sitting in his office crying over Jack and Kim when Michelle interrupts. The recording has been analyzed and it implicates 3 unnamed countries as the suppliers of the nuclear bomb to Ali.
• Palmer is dubious about the recording but must act accordingly. War is imminent.
• Jack is flying to his doom but is surprised to find George Mason dying in the cargo hold. Mason tosses Jack a parachute and says the hard part is over and he can crash a plane as good as Jack can. I miss George Mason. When Jack continues to protest, George kicks him in the ass and tells him to keep living and fix his life. Jack thanks him.
• Jack and Mason share one last moment before Jack hops out of the plane.
• George takes the plane into a nosedive … you rule George Mason.
• Jack, Kim, and David all look at the mushroom cloud.

Ridiculousness:

• Kim’s stroll down a deserted midnight road is cliché central. First 2 bikers roll by as she ducks and hides then some dude in a wife beater driving an El Camino tries to pick her up before Kim pulls a gun on him to scare him off.
• I love Palmer’s childlike wonder when he finds out that the American military is ready to invade any nation in the world. That is what they are there for Mr. President. What did you think they did while on the job?

Running Totals:

The Healing Power of Jack Tears: 1 (6)

• Jack’s has his tearful goodbye to his daughter.

Day 2: 9:00 PM - 10:00 PM

Characters Introduced:

• Carrie Turner (Lourdes Benedicto): This season’s horrible CTU bitch. She literally does no work her whole time at CTU. Instead she watches and rats on everyone else for the next 11 hours.

Returning Characters:

Come on!

Key Moments:

• David confronts Sherry about Roger’s allegation. Sherry tries her normal politicking, but David cuts her off and gives her the full presidential treatment. Sherry explains that she got involved with Roger as a way to protect David.
• After a quick failure as an interpreter for the questioning of Omar, Kate wanders off when she spots Marie in a crowd.
• Kate continues the hunt for her sister even following her alone into darkened rooms. Marie pulls a gun on her, moralizes a bit, and then demands Kate’s CTU badge. Kate calls her out for being stupid; Marie slaps her and gets ready to kill her. Jack arrives in time to shoot Marie in the arm. This allows Marie to begin her awesome wails of pain.
• Jack explains the real world to Kate when she complains that they are not treating Marie’s wound. CTU agents cuff Marie to a chair and she squirms and whimpers in pain. Jack explains that the bullet is still lodged in her arm and then grabs her arm to show her why it hurts so much. The petulant child that Marie is tells Jack she is ready to die; Jack looks her in the eye and says no you’re not.
• Kim figures out that there was no nuclear detonation by turning on a television.
• In the Xander Berkeley rules category, the irradiated man tells Tony that it is time for him to step down. He promotes Tony to CTU Director and keeps it together to walk out of CTU with his head high. He even gets the second instance of the silent clock.
• Jack gives Marie enough painkillers to last for 5 minutes then sends Kate in to talk to her. Marie is a psychopath so this leads nowhere until the drugs wear off and the whimpering comes back. She tells Jack that the bomb is in a van heading downtown. Jack sees through the lie instantly and orders the airfield to be searched.
• Sherry has a lawyer confirm that she was working with Roger to protect David … and David does not give a shit. He doesn’t trust Sherry and has her escorted from the premises.
• Kim confronts Lonnie and uses her logic skills to get him to let her go and even scores a gun in the deal.
• The CTU agents find the van with the bomb. The techs confirm that this one is live.

Ridiculousness:

• The introduction of Carrie gives us the first truly horrific CTU running storyline. Michelle and Carrie hate each other and we are reminded of this every single hour for the rest of the season. If one of these characters is speaking, they are talking about the other one. There is a reason why CTU scenes became intolerable over the years; they were recreating this horseshit.
• Wait a second … after questioning Marie it took them 5 minutes to find the bomb on the airfield? Were they not searching the airfield during the Marie interrogation? It feels like they shouldn’t have wasted their time if the bomb was so obviously in the van sitting on the runway.

Running Totals:

Torture Doesn’t Mean You Can’t be Creative: 1 (6)

• I’ll count grabbing the bullet wound and painkiller trickery as torture.

Day 2: 8:00 PM - 9:00 PM

Characters Introduced:

• Agent Goodrich (Max Martini): The lead agent at the airfield. What about Baker!?!?
• Brad Hammond (Randle Mell): The boss of bosses in the LA CTU hierarchy. Not as good at being a suit as Chappelle.

Returning Characters:

Nope

Key Moments:

• After nearly 2 hours of interrogation, Roger breaks and tells David that they knew about the bomb weeks ago, let it into the country, and tracked it. They wanted Palmer to be stronger on defense. The problem is the team went dark 3 hours ago.
• Marie and Omar finish up but before they can part ways, Marie spots all the flashing lights entering the airfield.
• The agents search the airfield and find evidence of the coral snake unit. Jack searches the building and finds 6 dead soldiers with the magic tattoo. Wait a second were these guys death eaters?
• Division arrives to shut CTU down. The three-quarters dead George Mason summons all of his energy to bluff Hammond into thinking CTU is fine now please get the hell out of here.
• After Kim tells Lonnie about the bomb threat, what do you know; the man built his cabin above a bomb shelter.
• David berates Roger over the fake that the coral snake unit is dead. Roger reveals that there were 7 members of the team not 6.
• Omar tries to fly a plane out of the airfield. Jack and the rest of the CTU team chase the plane down until Jack shoots out one of the tires and when that doesn’t stop him he shoots Omar in the shoulder. The device with the blinking lights is in the back of the plane.
• The CTU techs start working on the bomb and eventually figure out that it is a decoy.
• Roger gives up Sherry when David looks for more information on the bomb.

Ridiculousness:

• In part 2 of showcasing Kim’s skills, after showering in her new friend’s cabin, Kim changes into a white tank top designed to showcase her nipples … in the cabin of man who decided to live alone in the middle of the woods.
• Lonnie fakes a nuclear explosion in order to trap Kim in his rape and murder shelter.

Running Totals:

Kim Does Something Stupid: 1 (18)

• Not only does she follow the forest dweller back to his cabin, she immediately hops into his shower. What is her definition of trust?

Day 2: 7:00 PM - 8:00 PM

Characters Introduced:

• Randy Murdoch (Val Lauren): CTU analyst with a cool hat. That’s all.
• Lonnie McRae (Kevin Dillon): Crazy guy in the woods that Kim, of course, trusts.

Returning Characters:

No such luck

Key Moments:

• A trapdoor is discovered within the mosque. Really? That seems shady. Jack goes down alone to prevent Ali from killing himself before the CTU agents could reach him.
• Ali is able to call Marie and tell her to finish the plan without him before Jack gets the jump on him. What follows is a crazy scene where Jack shoves a baton in Ali’s mouth to prevent him from swallowing any pills, the CTU agents rush in and hold Ali down, and after a lot of work Jack rips the cyanide pill out of his mouth.
• A burnt piece of paper was found in Ali’s clothing and it is sent to CTU for identification.
• Kim is finally freed from the trap by some whack job that lives alone in the woods.
• Jack begins the Ali interrogation with the basic questions and punches. After Ali tells him that he woke up ready to die, Jack tests that by breaking his wrist. Ali screams but does not talk.
• Jack does give the Imam a chance to talk to Ali with the power of religion behind him. Once this fails, Jack sends the Imam away because he doesn’t want to be involved with the sweetness that is coming next. At the same moment Kate overhears Baker telling Jack the last number Ali dialed. Jack tells Kate that his sister is a murderer and a terrorist. Kate reacts like everyone reacts to Jack; she yells at him and tells him that he doesn’t understand. Jack says fine call her so CTU can trace it and find her.
• Marie sees through Kate’s phone call within 30 seconds because Kate is awful at keeping it together. Marie hangs up and Kate yells at Jack again.
• Once CTU identifies numbers on the burnt piece of paper, Jack continues questioning Ali about the numbers and Marie. He delivers the classic line, “ the only way you are going to die today is if I kill you.” Still getting nothing from Ali, Jack has Baker turn on the monitors to show Ali’s family at gunpoint.
• Mike tells David about what Jack is doing. He is using unnamed country’s special forces in order to kill Ali’s family one at a time. They argue over whether this can be allowed.
• Jack explains what he is going to do to Ali and is interrupted by a call from David. Palmer does not give Jack permission to go through with his plan. Jack one-sides the conversation so Ali thinks the President just gave Jack permission to kill his family.
• Jack tells one of the masked men to start with Ali’s elder son. Jack questions Ali with increasing volume. Ali will not crack. Jack gives the okay and a masked man kicks the son to the ground and shoots him! Ali screams.
• Lynne spends the hour trying to prove that Sherry is dirty but when she goes to meet a contact Sherry is waiting for her. They talk in circles like every other one of their conversation today.
• After giving Ali a few minutes to live with the death of his son, Jack tells him that he is moving on to his younger son. Ali tells him that the bomb is at Norton Airfield.
• Ali is dragged kicking and screaming right past Kate so she can judge Jack. And in a beautiful fuck you to Kate, Jack asks for confirmation from his contact and the video jump cuts to prove that the whole thing was staged.
• Marie and Omar are playing with Star Trek toys at the airfield. Lots of blinking lights must mean a nuclear bomb.

Ridiculousness:

• Outside of the fact that the whole idea is ridiculous, Kim was literally stuck in the trap for a full hour! When she initially stepped in it, the cougar was chasing her yet it never finished the job once she stopped moving? Damn you cougar!

Running Totals:

Torture Doesn’t Mean You Can’t be Creative: 1 (5)

• The entire Ali sequence was off the charts.

Day 2: 6:00 PM - 7:00 PM

Characters Introduced:

• Ted Simmons (Steven Culp): Palmer’s torturer of choice within his Secret Service.
• Imam Fulani (Bernard White): The imam of the mosque that Ali went to pray at. I got nothing much more than that.

Returning Characters:

Space

Key Moments:

• Ali calls Marie while she is ripping apart Bob’s computer. He needs her to get the bomb’s trigger from Omar’s locker at his job.
• Since no one else has seen Ali, Kate volunteers to walk through the mosque and confirm that he is in the building.
• David has Roger very publicly arrested.
• Kate gets in character and walks through the mosque. She is quite conspicuous but Ali doesn’t shoot her and she makes it out of the building to tell Jack that they are at the right mosque.
• David questions Roger to no avail.
• Needing information from Roger, David turns to a Secret Service agent who used to break people for a living in the CIA prior to defending David. Palmer gives him free reign to do whatever it takes.
• The mosque lets out but no Ali. Jack sends Baker and the team in to secure the mosque. While answering the Imam’s questions, a fire goes off in the back room. They assume Ali has immolated himself but Jack realizes that the clothes don’t fit the body and tells them to resume their search for Ali.

Ridiculousness:

• Kim is still in the woods. And there’s the cougar. And there’s Kim running herself into a hunter’s trap. Come on cougar surprise me by eating her this time.
• Marie uses her feminine wiles, and by feminine wiles I mean she sleeps with the foreman, to gain access to Omar’s locker.

Running Totals:

Kim Does Something Stupid: 1 (17)

• I don’t blame her for the cougar but I do blame her for walking into the trap.

Torture Doesn’t Mean You Can’t be Creative: 1 (4)

• Simmons method of choice is shock paddles to the temple.

Damnit!: 2 (5)

• Jack uses his favorite phrase twice while waiting on Ali.

Day 2: 5:00 PM - 6:00 PM

Characters Introduced:

• Agent Baker (Daniel Dae Kim): I don’t care about the 6 seasons as Jin Kwon; he will always be CTU agent Baker to me.

Returning Characters:

None

Key Moments:

• Nina attempts to explain her actions to Jack but when Jack doesn’t give her the satisfaction she’s looking for; Nina just goes with screaming threats. Then in another badass Jack moment, he just gets up and walks away. Jack tells Nina he is dead anyway so shoot him now and blow her immunity. Nina walks into a CTU sniper’s range and is taken down. The rest of the agents rush in and cuff her.
• Palmer being awesome tells Mike that Nina’s pardon is still on but sends her ass back to LA to ride out the bomb threat with the rest of the population.
• Before Nina is hauled away, Jack whispers something in her ear that terrifies her. He also notices a coral snake tattoo on one of the dead soldiers.
• Ali leaves Kate to his torturer to do what he wishes before killing her.
• Jack tells Palmer about the tattoo. These are American soldiers connected to the NSA and a Col. Samuels (a name that will be said a million times but will never actually be shown).
• David goes to Roger with this information expecting answers but gets none. A pissed off David meets with Mike and Sherry to tell them that he is going to arrest Roger. They convince him to get proof first. Really? Proof in the 24 universe?
• Jack’s team advances on the house Kate is being tortured in. When Kate is held hostage, Jack takes him down with a riot shield and a beanbag shotgun. Before he can be questioned, the man kills himself with a cyanide pill hidden in his mouth.
• After radioactive George Mason tells Michelle to find happiness, she asks Tony out on a date presumably not right now but after the bomb is resolved. I sure hope they live happily ever after and do not end in tragedy.
• Kate tells Jack that the dead man is not Syed Ali. Jack brings her into the bathroom to remember what she heard Ali said. Kate speaks Arabic so she picked up enough to tip off Jack that Ali went to a mosque to pray.
• In one scene Sherry provides David with the proof to arrest David, then in a later scene Sherry calls Roger to warn him. Is anyone shocked?
• In what may be the longest search for files since Milo needed an hour to trace a cell phone, Reza and Richards are still at Bob Warner’s computer when Marie kicks in the door and kills both of them. We get the first instance of Marie Warner’s crazy eyes.

Ridiculousness:

• In order to prevent getting transported back to LA, Kim and Miguel light a fire in the back of the police SUV. What the fuck did they think this was going to accomplish? Well, obviously, other than probably killing themselves.
• Kim runs away from the accident into the woods and my hands are shaking knowing what comes next.

Running Totals:

Kim Does Something Stupid: 1 (16)

• Starting a fire in the SUV as a means of escape definitely qualifies.

Damnit!: 1 (3)

• Jack screams this when he thinks the man who held Kate hostage was Ali.

Day 2: 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM

Characters Introduced:

• Syed Ali (Francesco Quinn): One of the better build-ups to a villain reveal since his name has been talked about for 8 hours before he actually appeared on screen.

Returning Characters:

Blank

Key Moments:

• Jack calls George to tell him that the plane is going down and relays their coordinates for their crash landing. He then tries to get Nina to reveal the location of the bomb, but even now Nina doesn’t trust Jack. Seriously? Jack’s word is a form of currency in some countries.
• Since Jack is a super soldier, he survives the plane crash with only some shrapnel. He surveys the wreckage finds Rick near dead and moves on to resuscitating Nina.
• When Tony yells at George once again, Mason finally admits to his exposure and imminent death. Tony feels sad for how he has treated him all day. Eh, George will be dead soon so he won't hold it over your head.
• Mason is tired of the lack of answers, so he dumps Reza and Bob in the same room and tells them about a shipping receipt linking the Warner Company to Syed Ali.
• After stewing over this information, Reza loses his patience with Bob and tells CTU that he will let them into the company computers to discover the link to Ali.
• While trying to escape the wreckage, Jack and Nina spot soldiers who arrive and kill Rick. Jack and Nina dive and hide. Jack kills the first soldier with a freaking flare gun. He picks up the soldier’s rifle and takes out another soldier. Jack and Nina run for better cover. In a bad move, Jack frees Nina, hands her the ammunition, and asks her to spot for him.
• Syed Ali administers smelling salts to wake up Kate. He questions her about her investigation. When she says she doesn’t know anything, he drags her into the bathroom where the real interrogation is happening to Paul.
• Nina’s spots allowing Jack to kill 2 more soldiers, but it also allows Nina to pocket one of the clips. Jack discards the rifle when he runs out of bullets, but the incoming CTU chopper clears the rest of the field. Nina picks up and loads the rifle then takes aim at Jack. She demands to speak with Palmer.
• Richards accompanies Reza to Warner’s office. Before leaving CTU, Reza tells Marie what he is doing and Marie calls off the wedding. Thank you for getting back to that because that is the most important thing going on today.
• Mike takes Nina’s call because David doesn’t want to give in to her. Her demand is immunity, which she already has, but clarifies that she wants immunity for killing Jack Bauer right here right now. Jack tells the President to take the deal. Palmer is torn apart by this. He agrees to the deal and Nina gives up Ali’s address. Palmer asks Jack if he needs anything and Jack asks him to look out for Kim. Haysbert is an absolute monster in this scene.
• Ali believes that Kate doesn’t know anything so he kills Paul and orders the other guy to kill Kate.
• Nina gloats about her getting to kill Jack; Jack responds by telling her that it isn’t over yet.

Ridiculousness:

Great hour, no filler.

Running Totals:

Battlefield Medic: 1 (3)

• Jack pulls a foot long piece of shrapnel out of his leg with his bare hands.

Torture Doesn’t Mean You Can’t be Creative: 1 (3)

• Paul has a bad day before he is killed; he is handcuffed and hung from his arms then the nice scary man goes at him with a power saw.

Jack’s Body Count: 4 (23)

• Jack is able to take out 4 of the soldiers before running out of ammo.

Day 2: 3:00 PM - 4:00 PM

Characters Introduced:

• Paul Koplin (Al Sapienza): A private investigator who helps Kate look in her father’s company’s files to find the link to Ali. May or may not die a horrible death.
• Omar (Marc Casabani): One of Ali’s men transporting the bomb to every corner of LA today.

Returning Characters:

Empty

Key Moments:

• Since he has been detailed for hours now, David sends Sherry in to deal with Ron Wieland in the hopes that she can convince him not to go to the press with all that has happened.
• Nina is constantly questioning Faheen in Arabic trying to get the location of the bomb from him. At the same time she rips a gift card that she lifted from Faheen’s store into a jagged edge and positioned it for later use. There is also a cute little scene where Jack and Nina confer and it is just like the old days.
• The van transporting bomb blows a tire and they are helped by a nice American civilian. The niceness convinces the driver to not murder everyone in the city and he tries to run away. One of the other thugs in the van shoots him before he can get away, but before he dies the driver shoots that guy. This leaves Omar as the last man standing and responsible for getting the bomb to wherever it needs to go.
• When Tony begins interrogating Bob at CTU, Bob admits that he is a consultant for the CIA.
• Kim calls Jack to cry about her situation at the same time that Nina is questioning Faheen on the plane back to LA. While Jack tries to do 2 things at once, Kim yells at him and Nina slices Faheen’s throat with the gift card. Nina tells Jack that she has the location of the bomb and wants to be taken to San Diego. Mason agrees to the new deal, while Jack threatens Nina.
• Mike interrupts David and Lynne’s conversation to show him a news feed of Ron squealing about what was done to him.
• When Kate and Paul leave the Warner house to continue their investigation, they are kidnapped.
• After guilting the hell out of Nina with a speech about how great a person Teri Bauer was (we never saw that!), Jack stands up at the same moment the plane is hit by some sort of missile.

Ridiculousness:

• So the first couple of hours of the day included a bunch of shady dudes working in a warehouse then loading something into a van and leaving the warehouse. All of this occurred in the tiny 24 windows when they transitioned scenes. All of sudden 6 hours later we are now introduced to guys driving the van. Where the hell have then been driving all this time?

Running Totals:

Kim Does Something Stupid: 1 (15)

• Kim has a horrible habit of calling Jack when he is in the middle of shit and this time he distracts Jack from seeing Nina make her move on Faheen.

Human Beings Still Eat?: 1 (5)

• Palmer sits down to a late lunch early dinner? Who knows, but its weird.

Day 2: 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM

Characters Introduced:

• Rick Phillips (Michael Cudlitz): The FBI agent in charge of keeping Jack from killing Nina. This is definitely a fulltime job.
• John Mason (Eric Christian Olsen): Mason’s shiftless son who has a sweet job manning a snack truck.
• Mamud Rasheed Faheen (Anthony Azizi): The man Nina is taking Jack to and someone with a connection to Ali. Also Omar from Lost, not that significant a role but he showed up a bunch.

Returning Characters:

• Mike Novick (Final episode of season 1)

Key Moments:

• Although Jack removed the CTU babysitter, there is a FBI babysitter waiting for him on the plane. Jack keeps trying to increase the pressure on Nina, but Phillips won’t allow it. Jack does take the opportunity to force Nina to change into people clothes in the middle of the plane, while Jack watches. Pervy Jack!
• Jack and crew arrive and move in a Faheen. Jack’s plan is to send Nina in alone and have her lie her way to Faheen. In a classic Jack line when Nina protests that Faheen will kill her then kill himself, Jack say they will stop him before he turns the gun on himself.
• With Tony’s field questioning going nowhere, Mason tells him to bring both Reza and Bob into CTU to turn up the pressure.
• Nina goes into Faheen’s store and her name gets her into the back room where Faheen is hiding. The conversations are in Arabic and the video feed is dark, so Jack doesn’t know if she is meeting Faheen or not. Eventually he orders the FBI in and they kill everyone in the store, capture Faheen, but can’t find Nina. Jack hunts her down on the stairs leading to the alley and we get a phenomenal moment where Nina kneels down and waits for the bullet, while Jack’s hand can’t stop shaking. He pulls it together and slaps the cuffs on her instead.
• A cop pulls Kim, Miguel, and Megan over and what do you know Gary killed Carla and dumped her body in the trunk.

Ridiculousness:

• Just because this is 24 and the overly sentimental stuff always sticks out, dying George Mason has the police drag his estranged son into CTU. And although you know what is going to happen, George gets through to his son and the both of them cry. Xander Berkeley can make even the weakest material sing.

Running Totals:

Sadly, no cliches this hour.

Day 2: 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM

Characters Introduced:

No time for anyone new this hour.

Returning Characters:

• Sherry Palmer (Final episode of season 1)

Key Moments:

• Sherry shows up in the President’s office. She plays her normal power play but David ignores her. Sherry is forced to prove she has information about what is going on today.
• Let’s see if I can do any justice to the Jack/Nina scenes this hour. Nina believes she has the power and acts accordingly. She won’t give up a name; she is not scared of Jack; she practically taunts him. Jack flips the table and gives her the patented Bauer scream. She mocks him and tells him that he can’t touch her. Jack sits down across from her and just stares. Nina makes the mistake of eventually smiling at him; Jack immediately flies at her pushing her chair against the wall and lifting her up by the throat. Mason comes in to pull Jack out of there. Mason takes him off the case, but Jack is calm and tells him that it was all a tactic to take the power away from Nina. Mason agrees to let Jack continue his mind game. They look at a video feed of a terrified Nina.
• Jack goes back in to continue Nina’s interrogation. Jack asks for the name of her contact. She won’t give it up, so Jack responds by firing 2 rounds above head. Nina spills the name and who he is and how he knows her. She holds back the location even when Jack puts a gun to her head.
• After Sherry's information checks out, David reveals that there is a nuclear bomb. Sherry tells him that there are people in his administration working against him. David agrees to let her stay around and look into whom he can trust.
• After many scenes over multiple episodes, Tony uses the threat of handcuffing Reza in front of his parents to crack him. Reza says he has been covering for Bob Warner.
• Kim, Miguel, and Megan escape in Gary’s car.
• On their way to the airport, Nina tries to manipulate the CTU agent that is not Jack but Jack prepared for this by drugging that agent’s water and leaving him in the truck. When he passes out, Jack cocks his gun and smiles at Nina while Nina does what we all would and shits her pants.

Ridiculousness:

• After all this time, the person that realizes that Kim is insane is a little girl. When Kim is dragging her around the hospital, Megan just stops moving and begins crying over what Kim is making her do.
• The brain trust’s plan to get out of the hospital is for Miguel to grab a monitor and run out the door distracting everybody, so Kim and Megan can make their escape. An escape that just happens to be in full view of the window Gary is looking out of.
• Miguel knows kung-fu and uses it to kick the hell out of Gary.

Running Totals:

Kim Does Something Stupid: 1 (14)

• Nothing specific, I just want to highlight all of her actions this hour.

Torture Doesn't Mean You Can't be Creative: 1 (2)

• Jack v. Nina definitely qualifies.

Jack Loves America not Americans: 1 (4)

• Jack drugs the CTU agent just to terrify Nina.

Day 2: 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM

Characters Introduced:

• Roger Stanton (Harris Yulin): The head of NSA and even shadier than the man he replaced. Does Harris Yulin ever get to play a nice guy?
• Agent Richards (John Eddins): CTU Agent who mastered the stern look while the stars of the show do all the talking.
• Miguel (Innis Casey): The man who has the misfortune to be Kim Bauer’s boyfriend. This is made even worse by the fact that he actually listens to the nonsense she says.

Returning Characters:

• Nina Myers (Final episode of season 1)

Key Moments:

• Tony leaves CTU to question Reza about his connection to Syed Ali.
• Roger Stanton arrives to replace Rayburn and immediately disagrees with David’s decision just like Rayburn would have!
• A soon to be dead Paula provides Michelle with the password to the CTU data.
• David meets with the Ambassador of one of the unnamed countries and agrees to an exchange of intelligence data against Roger and Lynne’s objections.
• Kim calls Jack while he is debriefing at CTU, Jack tells her about the bomb and her need to get the hell out of LA.
• Nina arrives at CTU and is given the full-chained convict walk right past Jack.
• Mason interrogates Nina but all he gets is her demand of a full pardon for any help.
• Palmer agrees to Nina’s demands but has the courtesy to call Jack and tell him this personally. Jack’s pain over hearing this is palpable.
• Jack figures out that George was exposed to radiation and uses that as leverage to be the one who Nina will deal with. This is another great Jack/Mason scene.
• The helicopter carrying the Ambassador of blank country is blown out of the sky.

Ridiculousness:

• Of course Kim’s boyfriend is a sketchy looking musician.

Running Totals:

Kim Does Something Stupid: 1 (13)

• Instead of going to the cops and having everything straightened out, Kim convinces Miguel to help her kidnap Megan from the hospital.

Day 2: 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM

Characters Introduced:

• Joseph Wald (Jon Gries): The man who gave Eddie his orders and the man that can tell CTU who sold them out. He is also Ben Linus’ dad.

Returning Characters:

Empty

Key Moments:

• Tony and Michelle are relatively unscathed but Paula is pinned under a shitload wreckage.
• Although they weren’t inside CTU when the bomb went off, Megan has a seizure outside of the building.
• When Eddie pulls into a deserted area and calls Wald, Jack pulls his gun and takes all 3 of them out and grabs Wald’s address.
• After multiple beratings by Tony and since he is going to die anyway, Mason decides to head back to CTU. Also his password is “Hendrix” which is another check in his column.
• Jack arrives at Wald’s address and gets him to let him in without any problems. While questioning him, Wald’s dog distracts Jack allowing Wald to escape to his panic room.
• After taking a sledgehammer to Wald’s armored room, Jack gives up and just pleads with Wald to let him in.
• Mason arrives back at CTU and orders Paula to be brought back to consciousness so they can get the decryption code to CTU’s data. This will almost certainly kill her.
• After Lynne tells David that it was Rayburn who stopped her from notifying CTU, Palmer fires Rayburn.
• Jack convinces Wald that he has been used to harm the country he loves, so Wald unlocks the door. He gives Jack the photos taken of his contact and proceeds to blow the back of his head all over the wall.
• The contact is Nina Myers.

Ridiculousness:

• While Mason is being read the list of symptoms he will go through before he dies, Tony calls to tell him about the bomb and to generally yell at a dying man. Tony is very sensitive.
• There have been so many scenes in these first bunch of hours where Kate can’t keep her shit together and freaks out around Reza. This time it happens when Reza takes her for a ride to show him the house he is buying for Marie. Kate is awful at playing undercover.

Running Totals:

Jack’s Body Count: 3.5 (19)

• Jack takes down Eddie and his team including Eddie when he was driving straight at Jack.
• The half a point is for Wald’s dog. I’m listing it because usually television and movies go out of the way to protect the dog. Not Jack Bauer, he takes shotguns to attack dogs.

Day 2: 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM

Characters Introduced:

Nada

Returning Characters:

Nada Part 2

Key Moments:

• After finding Megan and having an awkward conversation with her father while he was undercover, Kim calls Tony and is told to come to CTU.
• While Eddie’s crew is screwing with CTU’s phones, Jack tries to call the President. He tells Lynne about the CTU bombing. When Lynne attempts to inform Palmer, Rayburn argues against it since they need to keep Jack’s cover intact.
• Eddie’s crew kills one phone company tech and takes the other hostage. They head to CTU.
• On his way out of the city, Mason is the only man available to check out a lead at a warehouse. A firefight ensues and Mason is exposed to the radioactive material that was used to build the bomb earlier in the day.
• Eddie uses the phone company hostage to get past the front gate at CTU. Eddie and his team go into CTU to set the bombs; he leaves Jack in the truck with the hostage. Jack takes the opportunity to mark a map with the location of the bombs. He gives the map to the phone tech and sets him free. Jack cuts himself as evidence that the hostage got the jump on him.
• David comes back from a press conference to see Rayburn and Lynne arguing. Lynne tells him about the CTU bomb and David immediately wants CTU notified.
• The phone tech and Lynne’s call arrive at CTU at the same time, so Tony orders an evacuation. Tony takes a few seconds to give Lynne shit for not informing CTU sooner. Paula is in the middle of sending all of CTU’s data to the NSa and Tony goes back to drag her out of the building. The bomb goes off while Tony, Paula, Michelle, and a bunch of other faceless drones are still in the building.
• Mason’s gonna die.

Ridiculousness:

• George going through decontamination is equal parts ridiculous and hilarious. Berkeley keeps giving the guy looks while he is told to take off another piece of clothing. Humor is rarely found on 24, so it was nice to have but what a weird place to put it.

Running Totals:

Jack the Butcher: 1 (3)

• Jack takes a knife to his own head to prove his innocence to Eddie. There had to be a better place to cut yourself.